Posted by Jessica Davis on Thu, Sep 02, 2010
You’re heading to the biggest trade show of the year. You’ve checked out your competition and your exhibit looks as good as theirs looks. You have last year’s team back. Everything will be as good as it was last year. You are ready to make the most the show. But are you ready for the real competition? An audience that is totally and completely bored.
You Have Only a Brief Moment to Make an Impression at a Tradeshow! Attendees Only Recall 15% of the Displays Visted.
People are surrounded with so much slick mass entertainment, on-demand info, interactive experiences, and noise and hype that they have moved beyond oversaturation – they are now tuning most of it out. Trade show attendees – and your target customers – are a product of this environment. They quickly scan a booth and make a very rapid decision about whether to invest more time or effort in a visit. Now, you not only have to beat your competition, you need to capture the heart and minds of your prospects that are harder than ever to engage.
Studies have found that on average trade show attendees can only recall 10% to 15% of the displays they visited 24 hours later, but the most valuable customers remember over 40% of exhibits even a year later. That is the dilemma – the casual show attendees won’t remember much but do not really matter; the high- value buyers probably remember what you did last year.
You have only one brief moment to make an impression. Do you want your target customers to see your trade show exhibit and think, “been there, done that”? (Don’t forget – your most valuable prospects never miss a show and they saw your booth last year.)
So ask this simple question: When was the last time you changed the appearance of your exhibit?
If the answer is more than two years, pick up the phone and call the best trade show exhibit designer you can find. If your booth was typically forgettable, it will look dated. If your booth was the star of the show, it will be unforgettable and remembered as last year’s exhibit. No matter what, a dated exhibit will send the wrong message about your company and the wrong message about how you feel about the attendees of this show.
In this fast-paced, competitive world, trade show visitors want "new". That doesn’t mean that you need a completely new exhibit, perhaps it just needs to be refreshed. But, now more than ever, it is important to show that your company understands how to succeed in this hyper-competitive marketplace.
Posted by Jessica Davis on Tue, Aug 03, 2010
I attend a lot of trade shows – hardware, books, electronics, men’s wear, food service, medical equipment, etc. – if there is a trade show, odds are I’ve probably been to it. 
It’s part of my job. Sometimes it is a delightful part of what I do – but all too often I can walk an entire trade show floor and not see one new, inspiring idea.
So far this year at the shows I have attended, I have found that most booths are professional looking and nicely designed but I often don’t remember anything the minute I move on to the next aisle. The words that come to mind: boring, formulaic, and devoid of any discernable brand personality.
Everything is perfectly planned, so why aren’t you more successful?
You have a great location for the show – right up front, with lots of traffic. You have a beautifully designed booth that is uncluttered and well-merchandised. You have great people who know that a positive attitude is essential. Yet people just keep passing by, and don’t even slow down.
Ask yourself, why should someone stop at your booth?
Think about what it is like to attend this show or conference. After three hours of seminars and speeches, the conference attendees finally get a break. They enter the exhibit hall and are greeted with hundreds of booths and the din of people chattering, music and sales presentations. They quickly walk down the aisles and select a few booths to visit. What can you do to make your booth one of those stops?
Avoid being part of this “boring sea of sameness”?
Do something different and unexpected. Break out of the "just another trade show exhibit" pack. And do it in a way that sells your product and builds your brand. I know it is much easier said than done, but here are a few breakout ideas:
- Entertainment: If it is appropriate to your overall message and product, hire a professional performer to be part of your booth but give it a twist. One small book publisher was promoting a new series of activity books include a book on juggling. They secured two booths located directly across from each other. Then they hired a two-person comedy juggler team who did a juggling show across the aisle. It was hard for anyone who saw this simple spectacle to pass them by without stopping. More importantly, it was hard to forget that the publisher had a juggling book coming out.
- Create a place to “escape” from the show. Provide a place to really relax that gives you a sales opportunity. Many exhibitors provide comfortable seating or have conference tables with chairs for meeting with prospects or set up beverage bars with stools. This just creates a place to relax and avoid a sales message. Often it creates a place for your staff to sit where no one can see them. The breakout idea is to incorporate the escape into the overall sales message. A travel incentive company who promotes South Pacific Getaways created a tropical beach getaway with a couple real palm trees, some fresh exotic flowers, beach chairs and tropical beverages. They added ambient sound with tropical birds and waves and simple lighting effects. The staff was dressed in tropical business attire and was actively engage in greeting people and answering questions – they were not relaxing at the beach, they were smiling, attentive and working all the time. It was the most popular place at the entire show. Everyone who entered received a “Tourist Guide and Passport” that provided information about the company’s travel incentives.
- Incorporate an interactive demonstration. Make your booth interactive and experiential by turning the sales process into an active, dynamic experience. It doesn’t need to be a technological wonder and it should always involve 1-to-1 interaction between the sales staff and the prospect. Have something unusual for people to do, touch, smell or even taste. Bring your products to life with interactive demonstrations that focus on the key sales proposition. And if you do incorporate technology, make sure that it is not complete “self-service”. A medical technology company used an Interactive 3D display to allow prospect to explore their product, zoom, see internal mechanics, and even go a simulated “test drive”. The 3D simulation provided the company the opportunity to introduce key prospects to a very costly medical device but required some assistance from the booth staff so that there was a natural opportunity to start a dialog.
- Everybody wins. If you are going to have a prize drawing, come up with something more enticing than a fishbowl for the entries and a random drawing sometime in the future when most of the entrants are already left the show. Attendees remember events, games and competitions. One clever exhibitor created an “everybody wins” contest with thousands of prizes. Instead of being just another booth with a free logoed giveaway, they enticed people into entering their booth, and spinning a gigantic wheel of fortune. Even most of the people who won the smallest prize – a promotional item with the company’s name, website and phone number – remembered the company because they won their prize.
- Open and inviting. The simplest way to increase the effectiveness of your trade show marketing is to open up your booth. Get rid of the table across the front and get rid of any barriers. Eliminate all the clutter. Design your trade show exhibit for graphic impact with large, attractive images and clean, simple and bold elements that will draw one's attention. Add dramatic lighting and motion that welcomes people into your booth.
Have you seen any unique and enticing booth ideas that created buzz on the exhibition floor and attracted visitors?
Posted by Jessica Davis on Mon, Jul 26, 2010
About 75% of show attendees plan booth visits before the show starts. Surprisingly, research studies have also found that most exhibitors do not do any pre-show promotion. If you want to have a really successful show, you need to be part of their pre-show plans.
Pre-show promotion is inexpensive and often can just be an investment of staff time. Here is an example of how one trade show pro promoted his business before the show.
The VP of Sales for a furniture manufacturer stays ahead of his competition by having his sales team call every customer and key prospect before their most important annual show. They do not use the Trade Show attendee list; they call their entire target customer list. The sales team uses the upcoming show as a reason to call all of their target customers. The call is an invitation to a company-sponsored breakfast reception which has become an annual event at the show. When they learn that someone plans to attend the show, they take the opportunity to make sure they have the target customer's current cell phone number so they can reach them during the show. They follow-up with two personalized e-mails to people who have said they will attend. Target customers, who are not attending the show, also receive two e-mails plus are sent a "breakfast in a box" gift along with information about the season's new line of furniture and show specials.
The company uses a similar strategy for every trade show they attend. A phone call and follow-up emails to attendees and target prospects who are not able to attend the show.
It's a simple plan. It's easily executed by the sales team. They are careful not inundate their prospects and customers with lots of unwanted emails and promotional materials.
This well-orchestrated pre-show promotion has significantly increased the number of qualified leads generated from the show and has resulted in improving the ROI on the company's show investment.
How can you put together a pre-show promotion that is successful?
- If you do not have a target customer list to contact, make sure to get the list of show attendees as soon as you can from the show staff. If you can get additional information about attendees that will be useful in quickly identifying prospects, make sure that it is included.
- Structure your pre-promotion campaign to start to build a relationship with your target customers before the show.
- Make sure that all materials and communication are professional and consistent with your company’s brand image. Design everything so that it is consistent with the graphic experience that your company will present at the show.
- Explore options for cost-effective pre-show communications in planned trade show mailings or emails.
- For major shows that have high traffic websites, think about online banner advertising. But be cautious about investing much of your budget in banner ads.
- Include a call to action that involves a commitment to meet during the show or to visit your booth at a set time.
Pre-show promotion takes some time and effort. It will increase your workload. But it will increase the number of qualified leads and sales that you get from the show. It gives you the opportunity to pre-sell your business. And it helps you focus your time and effort of the most important prospect versus anyone who wanders by your booth.
Do you have a pre-show promotion program? Have you found pre-show promotion is worth your investment?
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Tue, Jul 20, 2010
Next to the word portable, the word custom is the least clearly defined term in the trade show business. Marketers from various display companies add “custom” to almost every product description. It sounds good and makes it easier to justify high costs.
My definition of custom is something that is designed and constructed one at a time versus something that is engineered and mass produced. In general terms, display companies are either building displays one at a time or operating like a typical mass production company by designing products, doing the research and development and going into mass production.
So, what does this mean to the buyer? There are advantages to both types.
Traditional Custom Exhibit Company
Designers at a traditional custom exhibit company can allow their imaginations to run wild and (assuming there is enough budget) the shop can produce it. There is no need to try and fit the design into a certain type of construction material or system. These displays are mostly unique but may end up to be heavier and bulkier.
System Component “Custom” Exhibit Company
Designers at a system type of company do some pretty amazing designs but are generally limited to using components from a catalog. The advantages to using system components are that they are, in general terms, better engineered, lighter weight and packaged more efficiently. Cost differences between the two types are negligible.
So, now that you know the difference, what do you do? In my opinion, if you are using the exhibit at 5 or fewer shows per year, buy the best design from a reputable supplier. If you go to more shows, the engineering and packaging issues are more important.
Either way, don’t be fooled by the word custom. Find out exactly how your display will be produced and make the choice that is right for you.
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Thu, Jul 15, 2010
- Study the show’s attendees – know how many are expected and which ones represent prospects for you.
Know your position in the convention center – the location of your booth as related to the main entrance, the largest exhibits, food and beverage areas or anything else that is likely to impact attendee behavior.- Think about both long and short range corporate identification – how will prospects find you, and how will they know who you are when they are standing in front of your booth?
- Consider an activity to attract attention – live demonstrations, presentations or other booth activities will cause people to stop and watch.
- Imagine an important prospect approaching your booth – What will they see? How will they be greeted? How much time will they want to spend with you? How will you record their information for follow up?
- Think about the sales process – your booth graphics can be arranged to assist and guide the sales presentation process.
- Consider the image that you want to project – make a list of adjectives that describe your corporate image.
- Think about the practicalities - presentation stations, storage of briefcases, utilities, meeting areas, video, etc.
- Come up with a budget - Not only a number, but also what it should include.
- Look for photos - Find some images that are examples of booths you like. Be sure to indicate what it is you like about each particular photo.
Thinking about and preparing these things before you contact an exhibit designer will make the process much easier and more efficient. Best of all, with the right preparation, you’ll end up with a design that fits your style and meets your needs!
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
Hiring tradeshow talent and booth staff can provide an exhibitor much better returns on investment than in years past, providing that one understands the need, and seeks the most qualified candidate(s) to fill that need.
Pre-Qualify Prospects: Trade Show Talent Acts as an Ambassador for Your Booth
Browse the internet for convention and tradeshow models, and you'll find that there are hundreds of agencies providing this type of service. With so much to choose from, where to begin? First, prioritize your needs as an exhibitor. The early days of carshow models & booth babes have expanded into tradeshow talent that can not only greet attendees, but also demonstrate product and engage attendees in conversation. When considering hiring staff, be sure to consider what the role of this hired talent will be?
When Hiring Talent for your Tradeshow Booth Find a Reputable Agency
If you expect superior communication skills, good eye contact, and a witty personality, then you shouldn’t just go online and start looking for price quotes. You'll want to start by finding a reputable agency, preferrably one recommended by a display house, that has numerous testimonials and references. Furthermore, you will want to outline, in writing, precisely what you will expect from your hired tradeshow staff. They are after all, an extension of your sales staff, as the CMT agency states on it’s website “More important than just being attractive, they know and exemplify the fact that being outgoing, friendly, engaging and professional are what matter most on the tradeshow floor.”
Base your search for hired staff on your written outline of criteria. Speak to the agency about the qualifications and experience of each booth model. Ask the agency the tough questions, don’t be afraid to shop around. You will find that some agencies book superior talent, far beyond what might be considered standard or acceptable, including interpreters, product presenters, costume characters or entertainers. Find some talent with more than just a pretty smile. You might find that a well-qualified presenter just happens to be available during your show days, and needs the work. Why settle for a bikini model when you can have an excellent ambassador in your booth?
Include Tradeshow Booth Talent in Your Booth Staff Training
Before the show, outline a plan for your hired staffers. Share it with them well in advance so they may ask questions and get clarification. Expect them to show up well before the show starts each day, and have a briefing about expectations and or goals. INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR BOOTH STAFF TRAINING! You will want to emphasize the importance of pre-qualifying prospects, a major part of booth staff training. At the end of the day, have a wrap-up meeting, and again, include them with your staff. You are, after all, paying a premium - so why not demand a little more? If you make your staffing choices well, you can not only increase traffic and lead generation, you will also ratchet up tradeshow ROI.
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Wed, Mar 17, 2010
What to Consider When Determining the Best Staff for your Trade Show Booth
It may not always be the best idea to have your top salespeople staff your tradeshow display. There are several reasons to consider others to staff your booth.
- Most salespeople are born and bred to “close sales” and very few sales can actually be closed at a trade show.
- Salespeople will most likely have a number of current customers at the show. Tradeshow marketing objectives are, for the most part, based on gathering leads. It may be better to allow your sales staff the freedom to spend time with their customers and use others to staff your booth.
- Salespeople are typically very hard to manage. A well trained, disciplined approach to booth staffing may produce better results.
So if not salespeople, then who does make the best booth staff? There is no one correct answer to this question. I believe that each company needs to look at the goals and objectives that they have established for each show and staff accordingly. Each tradeshow exhibit, large or small, should have a preplanned basic procedure for handling visitors that is designed to properly communicate your chosen message, answer any questions and record lead information for follow-up.
There should be people assigned to greeting and qualifying visitors to the booth. This role should be filled by a person who is approachable, pleasant, smiling, energetic and a good communicator. Choose people to fill this role very carefully, as they will make that first and lasting impression on your prospects. Once a prospect has been qualified, this person should also be capable of delivering a brief presentation on your company.
As conversation with the prospect continues into more depth, there must also be someone in the booth that is very product or service knowledgeable. This could be a technical person, manager, or inside sales representative. Ideally, with the help of your staff, the prospect gets the information they need and leaves your booth with a positive impression of your company.
Think about your goals for the show and make sure to select and send the staff that gives you the best shot at not only meeting your goals, but exceeding them.
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
Doing Basic Planning Makes Participation in a Trade Show More Profitable and Less Stressful.
First ask yourself, what do you want from the show?
As you begin your planning process, be sure to understand why your company is spending the money to rent a space in the first place. Who will be attending? Which attendees are important to your company and why? What products do you have to show? What you want to say to visitors to your booth?
Gaining a clear understanding of these “strategic” goals is vital to helping everything else fall neatly into place. As such, decisions on design, graphics, product placement, staffing, etc. should all be made based on your overall show strategy.
Next, develop a timeline.
Most show manuals include a timeline or schedule of events. This is helpful for dealing with the logistical details, but you need to make a personal timeline to guide your planning. You will also need to deal with your tradeshow display, all graphics, literature and premiums, room and dinner reservations, the list goes on and on. The only way to keep all of this organized and still be able to sleep at night is to start with a timeline. The first one that you make will be very difficult and time consuming, but with the ground work laid, subsequent show timelines can be as easy as cut and paste.
Get some help.
Your exhibit company should be able to take most of the display issues off of your shoulders, but it is best to confirm things with them from time to time to make sure that they are on track. This will allow you to focus on the things that are more difficult to outsource.
Be sure to set internal deadlines.
Make sure that things that must be done internally are listed on your timeline and communicate deadlines well in advance to everyone involved. Often, one of the most difficult things for trade show managers to do is to get their own trade show booth shipped to the show on time. With that in mind, sometimes it makes sense to set an internal deadline that leaves you a week or so fudge factor just in case.
Brochures need to be ready to go well in advance. It may make sense to send your boxes of literature to your exhibit company so that they can ship them to the show with the display. This will allow you to check one more thing off of your list, and as an added benefit, it's one less shipment you'll have to track down on-site.
Develop a trade show timeline, check it several times a day, and work well in advance. It's not as easy as it might seem, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Need trade show advice? Let's get started!
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Tue, Feb 16, 2010
Value Of A Used Trade Show Display
There are a large number of corporations who purchased new tradeshow exhibits of all types a few years ago before the economy took a dive.
Now that tradeshow marketing budgets have been slashed, resulting in participation in fewer shows and smaller booth spaces, these too large, too heavy and too expensive to set up trade show displays are sitting in warehouses collecting dust and costing their owners money in storage fees.
Before considering your disposal options, you must first consider the fact that the tradeshow display probably appears as an asset on the company’s books. So, if disposed of, it will result in a loss on financial statements. Add to this the fact that the display consists of some hazardous materials, so disposal costs will be significant and you can see why disposal is not likely to be a popular move in the eyes of the bean counters.
Also, be realistic about the value of a used tradeshow display. Companies generally want to design a new booth to their own specifications. Even if your display closely matches their needs, the cost of refurbishment, changing finishes and colors and producing new graphics can quickly add dramatically to the cost. It is not unusual for tradeshow booths that originally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to be nearly worthless in the used market.
Options For Your Old Trade Show Booth
So… what are your options?
- Bite the bullet. Get a quote from your display company, pay the handling and disposal fees, write off the loss, and move on. (This is a major reason many companies choose to only rent their displays).
- Try to sell your old tradeshow booth. Gather as much information about the display as possible. Photos, drawings and inventory lists are critical to success. Post the display on a used exhibit web site (www.exhibitrader.com for example). Ebay and Craigslist might work to sell portable exhibits but larger displays probably won’t get much attention. Be realistic about an asking price.
- Make a deal with your exhibit company. Roll the old booth into the purchase or rental of a new display. Showing a “trade in allowance” on the contract will be much easier on the financial statements and also eliminate your disposal liability.
- Donate your booth. Try to find a charity that might have some use for all or part of the display. Admittedly, this is a long shot, but is worth checking into.
No matter which direction you take, it is always a shame that something so exciting and valuable when it was originally built ends up such a pain to get rid of.
Posted by Alexis Exhibits on Fri, Feb 12, 2010
It is no secret that exhibiting at trade shows, while widely considered the best dollar-for-dollar marketing investment, are chock full of costs. When it comes to saving money at shows, the devil is certainly in the details. Sometimes you can grossly over pay for services you might not think about until you even get to the show.
When exhibiting, people are going to be coming and going in and out of your booth all day for as many days as you are exhibiting. If you have carpet, you are probably going to need to think about vacuuming if you want to keep your booth presentable. If you are not careful, this can result in major costs for you once you get on the floor.
One of my clients, a software company based in California, was exhibiting at a five day show in Chicago. They had a carpeted 20’ x 40’ booth, so they knew they were going to need some vacuuming services. When they requested this service, we looked into the hall for vacuuming prices. Having the booth vacuumed once every night by the hall would have cost our client over $1000!
Most trade shows will allow you to vacuum your own booth, but if you want someone else to do it, you must use the designated contractor.
Instead of having our client pay such a ridiculous price for something that one of their staff members could do in less than 10 minutes we came up with a solution. We simply made space in one of the shipping crates and included a vacuum cleaner that could be assembled on the floor and then stored in their trade show booth. Their carpet was swept everyday for the show, they got the word out about their new products, and the show was a success.
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